Transylvanian Review nr. 3/2007

Abstract - Archaic Ontologies and Existential Philosophy - The author identifies in the work of Mircea Eliade the presence of a (meta)philosophy based upon religiousness and upon the religious experience and opposed to the post-Hegelian, modern and con­ temporary philosophy, which had spent itself in stillborn syntheses (systems) or in the generalization of partial truths. The positive meaning of Eliade’s (meta)philosophical project—convergent with Heidegger’s meditations and even with postmodernism—is that of an existential philosophy seen as a method suitable for a singular destiny and itinerary, skillfully concealing the sacred behind the profane.

Keywords: Mircea Eliade, existential approach, sacred and profane

Marta Petreu, Eliade par lui-męme, p. 10

Abstract - Eliade par lui-męme - In the autobiographic literature of Mircea Eliade (with a special focus on the Portuguese Journal), we find the presence of two types of logic, of two authorial voices: one abides by the rules of causali­ ty and of Cartesian rationality, while the other is self-fictional, self-mythicizing (and sometimes self-mystifying), a voice of destiny, of the trials of initiation, of the journey though the labyrinth towards a vita nova. This second logic, described as “fantastic” or “oneiric,” fictionalizes the experiences and the past history of the subject (including the prior involvement with the Legion of Archangel Michael) and exempts Eliade from the rules of responsibility and ethics. The constant self-fictionalization helps him leave behind a guilty past, through ritual oblivion and artistic amorality.

Abstract - Mircea Eliade, The Portuguese Journal - Mircea Eliade’s Portuguese Journal(1941–1945) was published in Romanian only in 2006, a long time after it was written, and six years after a pioneering Spanish version was issued by the Editorial Kairós Publishing House of Barcelona (Diario Portugués 1941–1945, 2000). Another controversial book written by Mircea Eliade in 1942, his political essay dedicated to Salazar, the former dictator of Portugal, and to his allegedly peaceful, national and spiritual “revolution,” was also banned by censorship due to its political biases and misinterpretations, being also integrated for the first time after WWII in the second volume of the Portuguese Journal and Other Writings (Jurnalul portughez şi alte scrieri, Bucharest: Humanitas Publishing House, 2006). In two complementary sections the paper investigates the unfriendly diplomatic milieu Mircea Eliade was obliged to work for as a press attaché to the Romanian Legacy in Lisbon, and the main personal event of his Portuguese sojourn: the tragic death of his first wife, Nina, who was suffering from cancer. Both circumstances—his life as a diplomatic underdog and the hectic mourning for his wife—show the author’s determination to filter the events through the mythical pattern of an initiation rite, marked by Nina’s altruistic “sacrifice” which liberates her husband from his regressive Romanian bonds, easing his way towards universal recognition as a historian of religion and great interpreter of forgotten myths.

Abstract - Ioan Petru Culianu: The Experience of the Italian Exile- Gianpaolo Romanato worked together with I. P. Culianu on a book about Religion and Power (1981), became personally acquainted with the historian of religions during the latter’s exile to Milan (approximately four years) and therefore, on the basis of a number of letters sent to him by Culianu, proceeded to piece together the dramatic and eventually tragic experience of an exile that lasted for nearly two decades (1972–1991). An incurable anti-communist, Culianu left his native Romania at the age of 22, spending his life in five countries (Romania, Italy, Holland, France, and the us) and in five distinct language communities. His legal status long uncertain, Culianu developed an ambiguous relation with the Western world, which he saw as drifting into nihilism and mercantilism (“one gigantic trading machine”).

Abstract - Under the Sign of History: Interview with Tudor Draganu - The interview presents the activities carried out by Professor Tudor Draganu as deputy director of the Center for Studies and Research Concerning Transylvania (1942–1949, operating within Cluj University), which was led at the time by the historian Silviu Dragomir. The interview also touches upon several aspects in the activity of Professor Drăganu from the early years of the communist regime.

Abstract - The Contribution of Al. Papiu-Ilarian to the Establishment of Romanian Public Law- The present study is the French version of a text published by Tudor Drăganu in 1946 and dealing with the beginnings of Romanian public (administrative) law, as related to the names of Transylvanians Al. Papiu-Ilarian and Simion Bărnuţiu. Papiu-Ilarian, who had studied law in Vienna and Padua, approached—in two speeches, one delivered at the opening of the judicial year (1866) and one at the inauguration of the Court of Cassation and of Justice (1867)—the issue of ministerial responsibility and that of the responsibility of public officials.

Abstract - A Few Considerations Regarding the Fate of Banat Swabians - The author analyzes the difficulties faced by the Germans from Banat when it came to their integration into German society, and the role played by a variety of factors in the similarly difficult process of finding a distinct identity in the new environment. The analysis focuses on the importance of collective memory, of the cult of the fatherland, and of the associations set up by the Germans in their new country. Attention is also given to a number of aspects concerning the significance of their cultural heritage, as well as to the place and the role played by their written and oral testimonies, preserved and passed on to the following generations.

Andrea Carteny, The “Defence of the Periphery” in Western and Eastern Europe: The Cases of the Basques in Spain and of the Hungarians in Romania, p. 121

Abstract - The “Defense of the Periphery” in Western and Eastern Europe: The Cases of the Basques in Spain and of the Hungarians in Romania- After the end of the East-West bipolar system, the last decade of the 20th century saw the revival of certain regional autonomist claims and the emergence of minority communities, in both Western and Central-Eastern Europe. Two situations—“fragmentation” and “hegemony”—may be examined by looking at two cases coming from two different European countries. The first case concerns the Basque question in Western Europe, and the role played by the Basque Nationalist Party, particularly in Spain. The second case concerns the situation of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, identified with an “umbrella party,” the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania. The Basque “sovereignty” promoted by the pnv and the “cultural autonomy” advocated by the Transylvanian Hungarians and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania were only some of the proposals that emerged at the beginning of the new century, illustrating the complexity and the multiple dimensions of our Old Continent.

Ruxandra Cesereanu, The Lynching of Intellectuals during the Communist Period: The Cases of Anton Golopenţia and Nicolae Margineanu, p. 130

Abstract - The Lynching of Intellectuals during the Communist Period: The Cases of Anton Golopenţia and Nicolae Margineanu - During the communist period, the lynching of intellectuals was one of the goals of the regime abusively instituted in Romania. Media lynching by way of the communist press involved the skillful use of statements coming from alleged proletarians (real or made up by the Securitate); the intention was first to have the detainees burned in effigy, then humiliated and de facto abused during questioning and also later, during their time in prison. For an “enemy of the people” death was simply not enough: it was very important to begin by humiliating them, by instilling fear in their hearts, and by breaking their spirit.

Abstract - The Status of the Imaginary from Antiquity to the 20th Century - The study seeks to present, in a very concise manner, the historical development of the status of the imaginary, from the Greek-Roman Antiquity to the coherent theories on the imaginary formulated in the 20th century, examining the methodology employed and the research carried out in numerous specialized centers. A proper understanding of the status of the imaginary requires one to leave behind the paradigm of separation underlying modern (Western) thought.